Biological Reduction of Ketones

[kyle1990]

This mechanism was pulled directly from my text. The irrelevant portion of the molecule is faded out. The question is this: why is the one ketone on acetoacetyl ACP reduced and the other is not? I know that biological reactions are highly specific, but is it possible for the other ketone to be reduced instead?

[chrisf]

I'll look over that tonight, have a few things to do this afternoon. I'm guessing that the reduction favors some stereo-specific product over another.

[chrisf]

I can't find anything specific in my book as it doesn't cover too much bio-chemistry but there are a lot of articles about "stereo-specific metabolic reduction of ketones" on the Internet.

So, I'd have to concur with my previous assumption that the reduction favors a stereo-specific product. To answer your question.. I'd imagine both ketones actually get reduced, but one is heavily favored.

[kyle1990]

Thanks Chris-I appreciate it.